£1m counterfeit goods seized at the airport

More than £1m worth of counterfeit goods including Christian Louboutin shoes, Nike trainers and Urban Decay make-up were seized at East Midlands Airport in just three days. Border Force officers staged the operation earlier this month and found 8,100 items. (Image: HANDOUT)

Paul Harper, Border Force assistant director at EMA, said: “Border Force officers work every day of the year at ports and airports to stop counterfeit goods coming into the UK.

“People may think that buying a cheap product from a website or market stall is harmless, but the fact is that money from the sale of counterfeits often goes to fund organised crime.

“Anyone buying into this trade may be funding all sorts of illegal activities like drug smuggling, human trafficking, or child labour.

“People should also think about their own safety – counterfeit electrical goods like phone chargers and hair straighteners undergo none of the safety testing of genuine products, making them potentially lethal.

“Fake make-up can contain all sorts of nasty ingredients like arsenic, lead and cyanide.

“The criminal gangs making huge profits from counterfeiting are organised and savvy - constantly developing new products which they know will sell.

“Border Force’s efforts to stop them will continue and I urge members of the public to think twice before buying products which put money into their pockets.”

Since November, officers at EMA have seized more than 114,000 items, with an estimated retail value of more than £4.5m.

Border Force works with brands to establish whether goods are genuine.

If fake, goods are destroyed and rights holders decide whether to privately prosecute the importers.